America Unchained.

[Doorstop]

With the forthcoming broadcast of the excellent social satirist and comedian (and one of my personal favourite humourists) , Dave Gorman, chronicling his quest to traverse the United States setting off on a journey to see if it's still possible to live in America without giving any money to 'The Man' I felt it necessary to post this "info/entertainment mini 'heads up'".

Travelling coast-to-coast without ustilising any 'chain' Hotels, eating in any 'chain' restaurants, or filling up at any mainstream gas stations he will only be patronising "Mom & Pop" businesses for the duration of the pilgrimage.

Of course, travelling unchained in a chained world is tricky ... when you're tired you can't just stop at a Starbucks for a caffeine hit, and when the tank is running empty you can't just pull up at the next Texaco mini store.

It's being shown on More4 on the 5th of February and I forcibly advise all HG'rs with a refined sense of humour to watch. The man is a comedic genius.

A comedic genius who knows how to use graphs. (that's an in joke you will have to pursue yourselves)

Now here comes the entertainment part .. the mention of the cross States trip put me in mind of of a story my Ex Mother in Law told me.

During the early 80's she had went on a long wished for trip to visit her Sister in the US.

Both her and her sister had decided at the onset of the visit to traverse the great continent with the 'end goal' being to have an extended stay in one of the Southern states to meet up with other relatives.

The Sisters relished in both their coach trip and the many stops at 'small town USA' soaking up the distinctive cultures that comprise 'Americana'.

They eventually arrived at their destination for a short stay at their joint relatives town in Louisiana and were shown the sights, such as they were.

The sister was a great advocate and devotee of the Black Rights movements and had many obligations as far as fund raising etc. in her home town of Bellport, so when she heard that the Reverend Jesse Jackson was to be speaking at a local symposium for Negro Rights she leapt at the opportunity of tickets for the said event.

They travelled through the some of the poorest suburbs to reach the venue and entered and took their seats at the back of the simple auditorium.

The venue, as you would expect, was populated almost entirely by coloured people .. eager to hear the words of the great orator himself .. with my ex Mother in Law and her sibling being in the minority v.v. ethnicity as you may expect. They were treated exceptionally well, however, without a single dissenting comment as to their presence. Quite the contrary .. they were welcomed with open arms and ushered to the more favourable seats in the arena.

The warm up speaker for the good Reverend was in full swing, telling the assembled how they should stand up for their liberties without fear or trepidation, how their locale should make no detriment to their attitude in how they were treated as individuals.

"Walk Tall .. Walk Proud" he boomed.

"It matters not if you walk down your High Street in poor clothing .. stand straight and look your fellow man in the eye. If you have to walk while they drive by in their fancy cars .. stand straight and look your fellow man in the eye. If you come out of a store and walk past some of the white folks and they call you a nigger .. don't look at your feet and walk away.

NO!! .. You stop your walkin', you turn around and you walk right back up to them.

You look look them square in the eye and you tell them ... "I am not a nigger - I am a Black man!!!"

..

A hush fell over the auditorium momentarilly before a voice, from amidst the rows of decent Negro faces piped up .. "Some of you good Black Men is going to get some of us ordinary niggers shot!!!"

A practical pragmatist if ever I heard one.

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65 views .. and not one comment .. am I talking shyte?

[Peekay]

I did see an interview somewhere with DG about this and he said it wasn't actually as difficult as he thought it was going to be, as would we all. He never went as far as saying it was a waste of time(that wouldn't do the viewing figures much good) but it was certainly the undertone.

Besides that I liked the "I am Dave Gorman" series, wizny all that keen on the "Googlewhack Adventure". Still watchable though!

PK

[Doorstop]

I have to admit the 'Googlewhack' venture wasn't his best foray into comedy, although it was a blast as it stood .. I think that "Dave Gormans' Great Astrology Adventure" and the comedy masterpiece that was "Dave Gormans' Hunt for Dave Gorman." have been his masterpieces so far, and given the fact that one one of those ventures isn't on general release, so far, it doesn't surprise me he hasn't been 'On Stage' as far as exposure is concerned.

I have all his shows on disk if anyone is interested .. available .. at a pinch .. should anyone be willing to ask.

Favours permitting.

[Lucky Poet]

If it's any consolation, I heard the good Mr Gorman on Radio Teuchter this morning doing a pretty good job of selling the series, and I thought of this here thread. He said he was so disturbed by a several month long trip in the States, staying in identical MegaCorp hotels in identical sprawling suburbian nightmares, that he wanted to find out whether anything remained that hadn't been turned into some bland, corporate identikit. I think I'll have to give it a look; after all, anybody that can conjure a belly laugh out of a friggin pie chart must deserve a shot.

[Josef]

Never mind that nonsense. His spell at East Fife was the funniest by far. And his best haircut, too.

[Peekay]

He's on Ricky'n'Judy right now!

PK

[Doorstop]

Having watched 'America Unchained' I feel the need to say, although he is one of my favourite media satirists, I may have used my credit card somewhat prematurely to buy this effort on pre-order.

Very, very disappointed.